Judges Comments

We feel lucky that neither of us has to find weather features in sub-zero temperatures. Our first place winner took a wider view of this often photographed scene and gave it a painterly quality. We wish the photographer had used the rule of thirds more effectively and cleaned up the edges with a crop, but the line of kids at various parts of their strides is fun to explore. Second place was great peak action, peak joy, and peak pink. Sledding shots can be a dime a dozen but this one was punchy and that missing tooth is the icing on top. Many of the entries for this category were silhouettes of some kind and most of them were unsuccessful with either an unclean silhouette itself, a lazy middle ground of exposure, or a scene that was otherwise bland. Our third place winner was none of these and gave great color and texture to an everyday scene.